My Brother’s Best Friend

Forbidden Fruit

ARELLA

THE SILKY-SMOOTH texture melted in my mouth was nothing like pure bliss. The perfect mix of sweet, bitter, and a tinge of citrus was heaven. Each bite made me float in the air.

I unwrapped another chocolate in heart-shaped- one of my favorite, and the first and original creation of Reigh Chocolates-The Reigh’s heart. I bit, and the hazelnut crackled under my teeth. Closing my eyes, I chewed and savored the irresistible rich bitter taste of the dark chocolate and the heavenly smell that fed my soul.

“Don’t,” I stopped Brett when he chuckled.

“I didn’t say anything, sweet corn.” He laughed softly, and I opened my eyes.

Our chocolate connoisseur, Michelle smiled sweetly at me. She’d been working for as long as I could remember, and she knew how much I loved chocolate, but I had to stop eating when I got married. Though I knew dark chocolate had fewer calories, still, it didn’t pass on our desserts’ list.

“And you’re about to say something.” I smiled and took a step closer. I wrapped my arms around him. “I know. I missed this, Brett. This is something that I regretted letting go.”

“We’re here now, Are.” His face softened. “You can always do whatever you want now you’re a free woman. There is no leash around your neck anymore.”

“Thanks for coming with me. You’re supposed to be at the meeting though.”

“You will always come first before anything else. You should know that by now,” he said genuinely, “So, anything interests you?”

“Are you kidding me? Everything around here interests me. Can’t you smell them?” I inhaled deeply and closed my eyes again. The cocoa, the sugar, the mint, the citrus, the roasted nuts, a hint of cardamom permeated the whole factory.

The citrusy, I sniffed. “Interesting.”

“I can show you around just like old times, Are,” Michelle suggested.

I looked around, there were racks, tables, and trays everywhere with finish products of different shapes and different colors of chocolates. Reigh chocolates had signature designs of red, golden, and brown wrappers, but they had different designs for Valentine’s Day.

“I think we’re good, Mich. Thanks for the sweet welcome!”

“You’re always welcome, dear.”

We bid goodbye to Mitch and to the other staff when I felt satisfied with my short tour. I could feel a smile on my face when we got back to my brother’s car.

“Why didn’t you ask when you saw the picture?” Brett started. I knew exactly what picture he was referring to.

“What for? He seemed happy.” I looked out the window as we pulled off the driveway.

“He had to take an emergency flight to see his brother. Clyve got into a car accident.”

My breathing hitched. “Oh, my God! Is he okay?” At this moment, a certain feeling inside me lightened up, but I was worried about his brother even though I didn’t know anything about him at all.

“Yeah. I guess so, in fact, they already went to a football game.”

“Hmm. of course.” I nodded slightly.

“You can ask me, you know.”

“I know, but I have nothing in my mind to inquire,” I said truthfully.

I would be fine for as long as I knew Skipper was okay. We had to move on and start our new lives separately. The things between me and Skipper were a little complicated than I thought, so I had to lie and hide the truth from him. I was also shocked when I saw the reaction on his face. He wasn’t ready for something that could change his life forever.

Brett squeezed my hand. “Are you okay?”

“I’m feeling better. I’ve got new ideas for the scents. I hope Skipper will like at least one sample.”

“His assistant told me that he’ll be back next week.”

I stared at him in confusion. “Wait a minute. You haven’t talked to him yet?” And here I thought Brett was hiding something from me. I was such an idiot.

He shook his head. “He’s busy. The picture you saw at my apartment was on Clyve’s social media account. I just printed it.”

“Oh,” that was all I could say.

“He’ll be here soon, and you two need to talk, Are.” His voice turned serious.

I had to take a deep breath to ease the pain inside my chest. “We’re done talking, Brett.”

“No, you’re not.” His tone was harder than rock as if he was telling me it was useless to argue because I had no choice but to do what he asked me to.

“Brett.”

“At least you two need a closure, Are. If…” he sighed. “If there is nothing left to restart over.”

“I lied to him and risked his life. I understand if he won’t talk to me anymore.”

“That’s not the Arella and Skip I knew. The Arella I knew, she doesn’t give up easily. She’s maybe a pain in the ass, but she’s been a strong and willed woman. The Skipper I know has a lot of patience and determination. So I know he will come back and give you a chance to explain.”

“What if-”

“No more what if, Arella!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.”

“You mean it’s okay with you that…” I trailed off. “Um.”

“I don’t like the idea of it, and I don’t want to imagine things you two are doing together. You are my sister, and I know Linton damn well, and it’s.” He huffed and shook his head. “But he likes you, and I know he won’t stop until he gets what he wants. And I want you to be happy, Are. But promise me one thing.” He glanced at me.

“What is it?”

“You won’t force yourself to do something you don’t like.”

“Of course. Been there once, done that, and it didn’t sound good.”

He nodded and sighed.

“I’m not presumptuous, am I?”

“Just a little.” He raised his hand and gestured with his fingers.

“You’re just trying to cheer me up, Brett.”

“And it’s working, right?”

I scoffed, “Yeah.”

“I just missed my little sister who used to laugh with Alys like there was no tomorrow. Where did you go for months after your graduation? You were not home when I came for summer.”

My chest felt raw. I felt my world was about to turn upside down again. “I traveled with Alys.”

“How come we didn’t talk about this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe because you were always the best storyteller in our family, yet, you never mentioned Skipper.”

“Not a good idea to talk about our wild days in college to my little sister.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That wild, huh?”

Brett beamed. He was handsome or most girls called him a dropped-dead gorgeous. He had prominent cheekbones, dark eyebrows, big glowing eyes, a perfect nose, and his famous smirk that made girls fall at his feet. I always felt insecure about my brother.

“And when are you going to introduce someone special to me, big brother?”

“Uh-huh! So, now we are talking about me, huh?”

“No one really catches my big brother’s heart yet?”

“I’m only good with the business, but not with relationships, Are. You know me.” * * * I WAS momentarily shocked to see a tall man in front of my testing table. He seemed familiar, but I was sure I haven’t met him before. He was lean like a swimmer. He wore a white crisp shirt with sleeves rolled up his elbows. A casual double-breasted waistcoat? And a pair of dark gray pants. His almost blond hair was shortly trimmed, and there was something in those eyes. Yes, those eyes- an ocean blue. But his face was full of bruises, and then he smiled. At me.

“Finding hard to believe, eh?”

I found myself walking toward him. My brows still were drawing together. “Have we-” I laughed softly. “Your accent,” I pointed out.

“I heard a lot about you, Arella Rogue. Well, American people say, a drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. So that’s probably all true, yeah? Clyve Clifford Linton, by the way.” He offered a handshake.

“Hi! nice to meet you, Clyve.” Wait a minute, Clyve? Clyve Linton? Holy crap! I scanned his face after the short and warm handshake.

“Oh, this?” He pointed at his face. “Got into a car accident.”

My smile widened. “Oh? Thank, God, you’re okay,” I pretended as if I didn’t know. “So, what are you doing here?”

“I can see now why my-” He paused. “Speaking of the devil.”

My head turned to the man I’d been waiting to see for the whole week. I stood frozen for a bit, then I quickly looked away before our eyes met. As always, he looked gorgeous than ever with his now broody and intimidating look. The reality hit me harder than I truly wanted to settle whatever between me and him. My chest felt heavy all of a sudden. Tears threatened to break free off of my eyeballs, but I cursed them to retreat.

“Arella, why don’t you show the scent you formulated?” Mac said with full of confidence.

I blinked twice. “It’s not near ready. I’m not aware they’ll be here before the end of the week.”

“No biggie, Arella. We came here not to pressure you. I just wanted to see-” The soft and low voice of Clyve was quickly cut off.

“I just want to see if there’s progress in a week, Ms. James.” Skipper’s voice suddenly made me shiver-it was cold and almost emotionless.

Oh, God! Please, kill me now!

“Just show us, Arella.” Mac looked annoyed.

Skip’s expression darkened. He squinted his eyes at unaware Mac. His jaw clenched, making my hand sweat.

I felt frantic to see everyone’s face surrounding me. I’d never been embarrassed around my co-workers, but Mac was running out of patience on me. Why did Skip have to come to me when they had their own samples? It was damn annoying, but I needed to prove to the fragrance world that I belonged there.

“Sure,” I muttered. Before I could offer him a strip, Skip grabbed it and sunk into the tube.

Something flickered in Skip’s eyes but was gone in a second. He literally threw the strip, then he left without a single word.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

Why does he have to be rude?

Mac and Skip’s assistant followed him as if he commanded them to do so. I even got a chance to glance at his back, especially his ass.

Clyve’s eyes widened in excitement as he dropped a sample into his palm, rubbed his hands together, then smelled. “Are, this is incredible!”

“Clyve, what are you doing?” My eyes widened at him.

“I guess this one is for women, yeah? I like it.” He kept smelling them. His face lit up. “Just ignore Skip. He’s just having a hard time processing.”

“What do you mean?”

“He told me everything.”

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

A bark of laughter echoed in the room. “I was right after all.”

Still confused, I asked again, “About what exactly?”

“First, I don’t know who Arella Rogue is. I just guessed based on your reaction when you saw me. A lot of people said I looked like my brother, but I’m sure I look more handsome than him. I know you disagree. Second, I saw your ID in his desk drawer. Nobody kept a woman’s ID for years for nothing, yeah? And you’re a Rogue. I met your brother once. So, I put two and two together. It equals four. Haha!”

With rapid blinking, I closed my gaping mouth.

“Forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest, darling!”